Bastiodon, Bronzong, and Probopass for Byron? Of these, only Bronzong has seen a lot of prints and none of these would-be headliners have ever been multi-prize. Or easy mode, you just pick Steven and pay special attention to Cradily and Armaldo (by no sane definition pokemon who have been done to death) along with his Claydol instead of just Metagross and Aggron. Hop is "fine" but given that it seems more like it's colorless with one colored anchor ex than a metal archetype, his really could have been almost anyone with a different anchor. Examples that immediately come to mind include Norman or Winona. If he's popular in japan, I'll give that to him, but being the best character in Sword & Shield just makes you the winner of one of many mid-offs.
Larry meanwhile needs to stop getting cards until they hire someone to draw him actually looking good. (Not that it's any of the artists' fault his actual design that exists and that they are obligated to adhere to is a lot worse than the version of him that exists in our heads.) And even if a high profile Cloyster might be nice to see, make no mistake, the last thing this set needs is a second stinker from Scarlet and Violet, much less another rival. Could you imagine if Gym Heroes had had a lineup consisting of like, Misty, Green (male rival), Copycat, and Bill? (Well unfortunately the example of how bland it could be yielded two actually interesting characters in the "obvious joke suggestion" slots so maybe I'm not very good at examples...)
